TONIGHT’S MATCH: The Kings are back home after a 24-hour turnaround, hosting the Vegas Golden Knights in a rematch of last week’s loss at T-Mobile Arena.

HEAD-TO-HEAD: The Kings and Golden Knights met eight days earlier, with Vegas skating to a 6-1 win on home ice.

Forward Warren Foegele scored his team’s only goal in that match, with defenders Joel Edmundson and Jordan Spence adding assists throughout the game. Edmundson’s helper was his sixth in 11 games against Vegas and tied for the most assists he has collected against any opponent.

KINGS VITALS: The Kings return home after a quick trip to San Jose for their first home/home series of back-to-back games this season.

After David Rittich started yesterday in San Jose, goaltender Darcy Kuemper will be back between the pipes tonight against the Golden Knights. Kuemper returned from injury Saturday and made 23 saves on 25 shots to earn the win over Utah. Over his career, Kuemper has a record of 6-7-3 from 17 appearances against the Golden Knights, with a save percentage of .930 and a 2.31 goals-against average. More about Kuemper below.

Here’s how the Kings lined up in yesterday’s loss in San Jose –

This evening @LAKings Line rushes –

Byfield-Kopitar-Kempe
Moore-Danault-Thomas
Foegele-Turcotte-Laferrière
Lee-Lewis-Jeannot

Anderson-Gavrikov
Edmundson-Clarke
Jones Spence

Rittich

Kevin Fiala will not play tonight as a result of violating team protocol by missing a meeting.

— Zach Dooley (@DooleyLAK) October 30, 2024

My expectation is that Kevin Fiala returns to the lineup tonight against Vegas.

As mentioned above, Fiala missed yesterday’s game due to violating team protocol by missing a meeting. The incident was not related to Saturday’s match, when Fiala did not make a substitution in the final 24 minutes. On Monday, Hiller said Fiala had a “clean slate” after a conversation between the two that morning. A disappointing turn of events yesterday in San Jose. We’ll hear from Hiller later today at the Crypto.com Arena, but as of now I expect Fiala to return to the lineup.

In terms of additional changes…..not positive with the back-to-back. Akil Thomas made his season debut in what turned out to be a 1-for-1 trade with Fiala. The original plan was for Thomas to check in at 4C in place of Trevor Lewis, but the situation changed between the morning skate and the game. I wonder if Thomas will keep his place after scoring a goal and putting in a solid performance, and maybe Lewis will get the night off with the back-to-back. Just wait. I expect Hiller to speak around 5:30 PM, so we’ll see what is learned then.

Late in the game we saw the Kings mix up the lines a bit. If we see anything continuing, Alex Turcotte has completed a late shift at Kopitar/Kempe and Quinton Byfield returns to the middle at Foegele/Laferriere. If there is any staying power, I think that is the most likely continuation.

VEGAS VITALS: Vegas is off to one of the best starts in the NHL as they currently sit atop the Pacific Division with seven wins and 15 points in 10 games played.

According to Jesse Granger of The Athletic, here’s how the Golden Knights lined up against Calgary on Monday –

Golden Knights pregame line rush vs. Calgary:

Howden-Hertl-Dorofeev
Barbashev – Eichel – Steen
Pearson-Karlsson-Holtz
Schwindt-Roy-Kolesar

Hanifin-Pietrangelo
McNabb-Korczak
Theodore – White cloud

Hill
Samsonov

— Jesse Granger (@JesseGranger_) October 29, 2024

Entering tonight’s game, Vegas forward Mark Stone is tied for the NHL lead in scoring with 18 points, three of which came in the Golden Knights’ win over Los Angeles last week. Teammate Jack Eichel is just behind with 16 points and is fourth in the league in points.

The Golden Knights are expected to dress two former Kings tonight, forward Tanner Pearson and defenseman Brayden McNabb.

Storyline of the day – Kuemp-ire strikes back
Darcy Kuemper made his presence felt in Saturday’s win over Utah, his first game back from a lower-body injury that kept him out of action for five games early in the season.

Kuemper was simply solid in his return. 23 saves on 25 shots. One real save when he crossed the boundary, but overall just a solid performance. Jim Hiller simply called Kuemper “big” in net and used his presence to get pucks hitting him at the right times. It was a strong performance, exactly what you wanted to see in a first game back.

While Saturday was ultimately the day, I think we might have been able to see Kuemper back a game or two sooner if it hadn’t been October. With goaltenders, however, the process is slightly different. You can’t get a goaltender back into the lineup with a smaller role or fewer minutes. It’s an all or nothing situation. That was the approach taken here with Kuemper. Make sure it was 100 percent and then put it back in the net.

“You can’t really go out there and protect certain parts of your body, you’re not going to play your best and you have to be all in,” Kuemper said. “So you want to feel as close to 100% as possible.”

Kuemper admitted it was “bad” to miss time, but seemed optimistic about his return. Ultimately, that’s why he does this, to be on the ice with his teammates. He said he now feels “great” and is back to 100 percent.

So far in his return to the Kings, Kuemper has been 3 up and 1 down. The Ottawa game was a clear blemish, but he was rock solid in each of his other three outings. Kuemper enters tonight with 2.41 goals above average, according to Natural Stat Trick, of the 70 goaltenders to appear in an NHL game this season, Kuemper is one of 18 over two in terms of GSAA at 5-on-5 , led by the opening Night win over Buffalo.

While out of action, Kuemper had a chance to see the team from a completely different point of view.

Viewing the game from above gives players a different perspective. They often see how slowly things can sometimes develop. Perhaps less useful for a goaltender, but Kuemper appreciated the experience.

“I like to go up and watch the game, it’s a different vantage point than I’m used to,” Kuemper said of his timeout. “You see different things and feel the atmosphere a bit.”

As for what he learned, Kuemper alluded to something that I think was obvious: consistency.

It’s not necessarily a matter of what, but a matter of doing that more regularly. We’ve seen some good spells from the Kings, but they haven’t been nearly as regular as you would expect from this team, and what this team expects from itself.

“As a group we are learning what makes us successful,” he added. “We know what it is, we just have to make sure we always do it.”

With the Kings playing back-to-back after a substandard performance yesterday, they’re turning to Kuemper to pull them back. With Vegas in the build-up as an opponent, Kuemper will have to be at his best to get the team a result tonight.

3 to pay attention to –
– The Kings had six chances on the power play last night and were unable to score. In total, the Kings attempted seventeen shots while up a man, but finished with just three shots on goal across those six chances. While those can be deceiving at times, I think 0-for-6 is a number that speaks for itself.

Phillip Danault felt the Kings got some attention but lacked the clinical finishing needed to do damage on the power play. Jim Hiller used the word “crisp” to describe what the Kings were not last night, starting at 5-on-5 and moving on to the power play.

If it was one night, no problem, right? Both units were shuffled in Kevin Fiala’s absence and some nights it just didn’t click. However, the Kings are on the PP for the third time in the NHL, but have only five goals, tied for tenth. While these stats are more valuable at 5-on-5, the Kings rank last in the NHL in scoring chances per/60 and 31st in high-risk chances in power play situations.

We saw signs of life on Saturday, as the Kings executed the system much better, putting bodies between the penalty killers to create traffic, rebound threats and recoveries. Things we saw in practice on Friday were reflected in the match. Last night, however, was a step back. It’s still early, but getting that unit back on track should be key, starting tonight against Vegas, a team that certainly scores on its chances and enters the game fourth in the league in PP% today starts. Must be more productive.

– If there was a positive conclusion, I would highlight Akil Thomas in his season debut.

I think we can all agree that it was too late. The numbers at the end of the evening put Thomas at the top of the charts in several categories. With Akil Thomas on the ice, and he played 10:55 at 5-on-5, Thomas was on the ice for 21 shot attempts for and 5 against. On the ice, he was responsible for 80 percent of the scoring chances, he also led the Kings, and he was not on the ice for a life-threatening opportunity against. Thomas was also the individual leader in shot attempts with six, while he also led the team in scoring chances and danger chances.

It makes you wonder how the Kings could even line up tonight. Thomas fit Danault and Moore like a glove. I thought this was the line that looked good last night, in a match where many didn’t. They achieved the goal and did the things we have come to expect from Moore and Danault. A lot of boys have to bring more and those boys were sometimes there. Hopefully last night is one to build on for those players.

Keep it up, Akil.

– Finally, I share this quote from Jim Hiller, in which he talks about playing the same opponent twice in quick succession, like the Kings are doing tonight with Vegas.

“If you haven’t played against the team yet, you scout them against another opponent and sometimes you try to find an opponent who might play a similar game to you so you can kind of see what that looks like. The great thing about having played against a team before is that you have game footage of yourself, so you can see where you might not have been so good, where they might have been good. I always think the players appreciate looking at themselves instead of looking at Vegas. himself. I think the focus is a little tighter, and it’s the same on the (Vegas) side as well. There is no advantage. I just think it’s better preparation, it’s just more engaging.